Search on for Treasury boss

The NSW government will conduct a global search for a new head of the Treasury department after former boss
Michael Schur
stood down ­yesterday by “mutual agreement".

Mr Schur, who was sent on leave in late March after briefing the new Coalition government on the state’s finances, was told he could reapply for the position. He chose to resign with immediate effect.

Treasurer
Mike Baird
said the search for a replacement would take eight to 10 weeks.

The government hopes to snare a highly qualified economist with experience in a senior government job. He or she will play a major role implementing the Coalition’s policy agenda, including big plans for ­transport infrastructure, and help guide a team of ministers and advisers with little personal experience of governing.

“There are no preconceived ideas," about the candidate, Mr Baird told The Australian Financial Review. “I genuinely wanted an open search."

Former Treasury secretary Michael Lambert, who served under premiers John Fahey and Bob Carr, will act in the position until a replacement is found.

The government has not approached people to gauge their interest in the position. But sources suggested that former federal Treasury secretary
Ken Henry
, who headed the biggest review of Australia’s tax system in more than 60 years, would be a strong contender if he wanted the job. Dr Henry could not be reached for comment yesterday.

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Sydney Water managing director
Kerry Schott
, a former infrastructure investment banker and deputy secretary of the NSW Treasury, is also a likely candidate for the short list.

Her infrastructure credentials could also put her in the running for the position of chief executive of the government’s new advisory body, Infrastructure NSW.

Dr Schott’s five-year contract at Sydney Water expires in August.

The legislation to establish Infrastructure NSW has been drafted and will be introduced in the first session of the new Parliament on Tuesday next week.

Jim Longley, a former Fahey government minister and now the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s executive vice-president for government institutional banking, has been mentioned by the business community as a potential candidate for the Treasury secretary position.

Premier
Barry O’Farrell
has shown a preference for non-political public service appointments, including Chris Eccles, the new head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, who was drafted from the same ­position in South Australia’s Labor government.

An independent audit of the state’s finances by Mr Lambert, published on Wednesday, cleared Mr Schur and NSW Treasury of any wrongdoing in relation to half-yearly budget figures released in December.

The Coalition had claimed the Keneally government “cooked the books" to disguise a $4.5 billion hole in the state’s finances.

Mr Lambert found that the forecasts, for the four years ending June 2014, “accurately reflected information available at the time".

Mr Schur told an upper house inquiry into the state’s $5.3 billion electricity privatisation that the structure of the deal was a “second-best option".

The terms of reference of an expanded audit of the state’s finances, to be conducted by Mr Lambert and expected to take between three to four months, will be released next week.